Police say a New Jersey middle school teacher pinned a naked man in an Atlantic City hotel while $1,250 left his phone, she claims she was there strictly to party.
Amanda Crafts, a 35-year-old computer teacher at Middle Township Middle School in Cape May County, was arrested after an unidentified man told police he was stripped, held down, and drained of money in a Harrah’s Resort hotel room on Oct. 9. The New York Post obtained a criminal complaint describing the alleged scheme and later spoke with her attorney.
Crafts and 23-year-old Veda Engel of Cape May County allegedly met the man at the hotel bar of Caesar’s Atlantic City, exchanged numbers, and later invited him to the Harrah’s room. Once inside, police say the two stripped him naked. Crafts allegedly held him down while Engel performed a sex act, then used the man’s iPhone facial recognition to open Apple Pay and run four transfers totaling $1,250.
According to local reporting carried in the complaint account, Engel then told the man, “That’s what you get for your $1,250.”
Crafts and Engel appeared by video Oct. 10 before Judge Timothy Maguire. Both were held six days at the Atlantic County Justice Facility and released Oct. 15. Crafts told the court she had never been jailed or arrested before.
"I’ve never been arrested before. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time."
Her lawyer, Charles Peruto Jr., told reporters Crafts had no role in any theft, did not pin the man, and never understood the encounter as prostitution. He said she went out that night for a simple reason.
"Amanda Crafts is highly intelligent and wouldn’t participate in anything like that. She was in the room and wanted to leave and didn’t even realize it was a prostitution thing. She is mortified."
Peruto added that Crafts was there “strictly to party” and floated a different explanation for the police call: the accuser was unhappy with the paid time after premature ejaculation. “Maybe the prostitute took advantage of him but my client had nothing to do with it,” he said.
Cases of educators facing criminal charges keep landing in public view, including a former Long Island teacher accused of sexually abusing a student who later faced a stalking arrest.
Middle Township Public Schools moved once the arrest became known. On Oct. 19, Superintendent Stephanie DeRose sent a letter to families and staff stating Crafts was “no longer employed by the district.”
"The safety and well-being of our students remain our highest priority."
Crafts had taught computers at the middle school since 2016 and is a single mother of four. The district’s letter gave no further employment details beyond the separation and the student-safety line.
Parents already watch a steady stream of teacher misconduct stories, from a Jersey City teacher charged after police found dozens of child porn videos to wider federal probes of school districts.
Engel’s record was not blank. In December 2025 she was accused of offering sex for $1,000 to an undercover New Jersey State Police detective at the Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa. She was ordered to pay a summons in that matter. The Oct. 9 complaint put her back in an Atlantic City casino hotel with another alleged paid encounter that ended in a theft report.
Federal education officials have also opened inquiries into multiple districts over teacher sexual misconduct, including work by the Trump Education Department investigating 20 school districts on related failures of oversight.
The criminal complaint describes a straightforward sequence: bar meeting, room invitation, stripping, physical restraint, sex act, facial-recognition unlock, and four Apple Pay hits for $1,250. Crafts denies knowing the plan or taking part in the restraint or the transfers. Engel’s reported quip about the money sits in the file as the night’s closing line.
Other recent teacher scandals have ended in tragedy or deeper criminal exposure, such as the British music teacher found dead in Florida after alleged online grooming and separate cases that left families demanding answers.
What remains unclear is the full charging language, any bail conditions from the Oct. 10 hearing, and whether formal prostitution or theft counts will proceed to trial. The man who called police has not been publicly identified. The school has not detailed the exact terms of Crafts’ departure beyond confirming she no longer works there.
Middle-school parents send their children to classrooms expecting adults who can pass a basic judgment test after the final bell. When a computer teacher ends up in a casino hotel complaint over a pinned naked stranger and a drained phone, that trust takes a direct hit, and no courtroom denial puts it back overnight.
